The invention generally relates to the field of refuse management, and more particularly, to a system for alerting users that accumulated refuse has reached or exceeded a certain weight limit.
For many people, carrying heavy items can create health issues. These issues can range from small aches and pains to major issues that require medical care. For instance, carrying heavy items can lead to muscle and ligament strain or, in more serious cases, major problems that can only be treated surgically. While injury from carrying heavy items can affect all age groups, older people are particularly susceptible to injury when they lift something that is considered heavy.
Unfortunately, there are many situations in which people are not aware of how heavy an item is that they are about to lift. It is possible that knowing this in advance could either indicate they should not lift the item, at least not alone, or, if possible, they should consider reducing the weight of the item before attempting to lift it.
One item that is often lifted several times during a week is trash that is to be disposed. Lifting trash can be quite heavy. For instance, the weight of outdoor items, such as tree branches that are to be disposed, can be quite strenuous. However, heavy trash is also found with items that are disposed inside a residence or other location. In particular, trash accumulated in a kitchen can carry quite a heavy weight.
While a number of previous inventions have dealt with other issues related to the weight of trash in the hazardous waste industry (U.S. Pat. No. 5,641,947) and other industrial settings (U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,325), prior art is lacking in addressing issues raised in this inventions, and especially within the home environment. Additionally, prior art is lacking in offering multiple options for alerting when the weight of refuse had reached a certain level. For instance, alerting via electronic and/or communication channels.
The object of the present invention then is to present a new system for alerting a user when the weight of the contents of a trash receptacle has reached or exceeded a weight limit that indicates to the user that it should be disposed.
Other objects and features of the invention and the manner in which the invention achieves its purpose will be appreciated from the foregoing and the following description and the accompanying drawings, which exemplify the invention.